SKYWATCHERS ARE IN FOR A TREAT!
"The Great Conjunction" is tomorrow! It is an especially vibrant planetary conjunction easily visible in the evening sky as the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn come together on December 21st! While conjunctions happen every 20 years -- it has been nearly 400 years since the planets passed this close to each other in the sky and nearly 800 years since the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter occurred at night, as it will tomorrow.
This conjunction has become known popularly as the “Christmas Star” or "The Star of Bethlehem" and it has some people asking if this could be the same celestial event from the first Christmas. Let's be clear, no one alive knows for sure what Monday's conjunction will look like and while astronomers have long asked what caused the original "Star of Bethlehem", they are only speculating and do not have a definite answer.
WHAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN:
Hypotheses include a meteor, a comet, a supernova, it never happened, there is no scientific explanation (a miraculous star), or it was a conjunction of planets!
Yes! There is some evidence the star referenced in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible was actually a great conjunction, similar to the one we will see this week. Not all experts agree with this assessment, but according to astronomical records, there were several conjunctions of planets between 6BC and 5BC and it could explain the biblical star. I found an awesome article while researching this topic that goes into much greater detail. You can read that here. Again, we will likely never know the answer for sure, but tomorrow we will get to see our own "Christmas Star"...as long as the weather holds up!
SO...WILL THE WEATHER HOLD UP?
It is going to be a close call! There is a clipper system passing to our northeast tomorrow. It will keep it cloudy to start on Monday and even produce a few more isolated showers, mainly in our NE communities. Showers look most likely early in the day and ending by the afternoon. High pressure will then start to take control and clouds will begin to clear out! I think most of the area should be able to see the show! If clouds do get in the way, it would be most likely in our NE communities. I am hopeful we will all be able to see the conjunction, but I will post updates on my social media pages tomorrow as well!
HOW TO FIND IT:
-Find a spot with an unobstructed view of the sky, such as a field or park. Jupiter and Saturn are bright, so they can be seen even from most cities.
-An hour after sunset, look to the southwestern sky. Jupiter will look like a bright star and be easily visible. Saturn will be slightly fainter and will appear slightly above and to the left of Jupiter until December 21, when Jupiter will overtake it and they will reverse positions in the sky.
-The planets can be seen with the unaided eye, but if you have binoculars or a small telescope, you may be able to see Jupiter’s four large moons orbiting the giant planet.
OTHER FACTS:
The closest alignment will appear just a tenth of a degree apart and last for a few days. On the 21st, they will appear so close that a pinkie finger at arm’s length will easily cover both planets in the sky. The planets will be easy to see with the unaided eye by looking toward the southwest just after sunset.
From our vantage point on Earth the huge gas giants will appear very close together, but they will remain hundreds of millions of miles apart in space. And while the conjunction is happening on the same day as the winter solstice, the timing is merely a coincidence, based on the orbits of the planets and the tilt of the Earth.
